Sawt Falasteen - Rubio meets Canadian FM as Ukraine, trade war dominate G7

Canada, the current president of the club of powerful economies, is gathering G7 foreign ministers for three days of talks inside a rustic hotel in snow-covered Charlevoix, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

Once broadly unified, the G7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- has been rattled since the return of Trump, who has reached out to Russia and slapped punishing trade tariffs on close allies.

Before the full talks, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met separately with Rubio. The two exchanged pecks on the cheek and shook hands before sitting next to US and Canadian flags standing at equal stature. They did not respond to questions.

Trump has taunted Canada by saying it should be absorbed into his country as the 51st state. Joly, ahead of her meeting with Rubio, told reporters: "Canadian sovereignty is not negotiable."

Rubio on Wednesday defended Trump's tone but said he was not planning to discuss "how we're going to take over Canada" at the G7 talks.

Rubio took a circuitous route to the United States' northern neighbor from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.

Rubio has said he will push the G7 to draft a statement that avoids "antagonistic" language toward Russia.

Diplomats said that no other G7 country was aligned with the United States but that the group was looking at a formulation that could please all sides, such as endorsing the ceasefire proposal.

Trump stunned allies, and led Europeans to ramp up discussion on a defense future without the United States, by berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as insufficiently grateful and cutting off aid vital to Kyiv since the Russian invasion of 2022.

The United States restored assistance after the Jeddah agreement on Tuesday, with Rubio saying the ball was now in Moscow's court.

Russia appeared to throw cold water on the proposal on Thursday, with top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov saying it would only offer a "temporary breather" to Ukraine.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said the G7 needs to focus on "ensuring Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to secure a just and lasting peace."

Joly said she expected her talks with Rubio will be centered on "Ukraine and the ceasefire that's on the table."

- Trade wars -

The G7 meeting came just as Trump's sweeping 25-percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports came into effect Wednesday, prompting immediate retaliation from major US trading partners.

The European Union swiftly unveiled counter-tariffs hitting about $28 billion of US goods in stages from April, while Canada announced additional levies on $20.7 billion of American products from Thursday.

Canada has previously imposed 25-percent tariffs on $20.8 billion of American goods in response to US levies on certain Canadian imports.

Joly said she intends to raise the issue of tariffs in "every single meeting" at the G7.

Rubio said he expected his counterparts to set aside any frustration over Trump's trade policies to work on shared goals.

The steel and aluminum tariffs are anchored to national security concerns, he said Wednesday.

"Every country in the world we expect will act in their national interest," he added.

"I think it is quite possible that we could do these things and at the same time deal in a constructive way with our allies and friends," Rubio said.

"That's what I expect out of the G7 and Canada."

The three-day meeting in Charlevoix will also touch on China and the Middle East, among other subjects.

It comes ahead of a G7 leaders' summit in the Canadian province of Alberta in June.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST